Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 02.djvu/155

Rh .—It means Mother of God. What, are you a bachelor of Salamanca, and don't understand Greek?

.—But Greek! Of what use can Greek be to a Spaniard? But, sir, do you believe that Jesus Christ has one nature, one person, and one will; or two natures, two persons and two wills; or, one will, one nature, and two persons; or, two wills, two persons and one nature; or ———?

.—This, also, belongs to the Ephesian controversy, and does not concern us.

.—But what does concern you, then? Do you suppose there are only three persons in God, or that there are three Gods in one person? Does the second person proceed from the first person, and the third from the two others, or from the second intrinsecus, or only from the first? Has the father all the attributes of the son except paternity? And does the third person proceed by infusion, by identification, or by spiration?

.—This question is not mooted in the gospel. St. Paul never wrote the name of the Trinity.

.—But you always refer to the gospel, and never make mention of St. Bonaventura, of Albert the Great, of Tambourini, of Grillandus, of Escobar.

.—Because I do not call myself a Dominican, a Franciscan or a Jesuit. I am satisfied with being a Christian.